Acacia pusilla Maslin, Nuytsia 12: 386 (1999)
Decumbent to erect, dome-shaped subshrub 0.2–0.3 m high. Branchlets puberulous. Stipules persistent, setaceous, 1.5–3 mm long, recurved. Phyllodes crowded, on raised stem-projections, patent to erect, incurved from near base, subterete but often flat and linear when dry, 5–10 mm long, c. 1 mm wide, narrowed at base, excentrically mucronulate, sometimes glaucous, glabrous, nerveless; gland inconspicuous, 0.5–2 mm above pulvinus. Inflorescences simple, 1 per axil; peduncles 6–8 mm long, glabrous, recurved from base in fruit; basal bract semi-persistent, cucullate; heads globular, 2–2.5 mm diam., 8–12-flowered, bright light golden. Flowers 5-merous; sepals free. Pods linear, tightly irregularly coiled, turgid, 2 mm wide, thin-crustaceous, black, glabrous, resinous. Seeds longitudinal, oblong to elliptic, c. 2.5 mm long, shiny, black; aril terminal, pileiform, white.
Endemic in the Ravensthorpe Ra., south-western W.A. Grows in rocky clay on lower slopes, favours watercourses in dense shrub mallee woodland.
Superficially similar to A. lachnophylla which has caducous stipules, longer phyllodes with at least the midrib on each face normally evident and the gland commonly 4–12 mm above the base, larger heads with more flowers and mottled seeds. Also allied to A. rhamphophylla .
Type of accepted name
E side of Ravensthorpe Ra., about 10 km SE of Ravensthorpe township, W.A., 27 Sept. 1983, B.R.Maslin 5462 ; holo: PERTH; iso: CANB, G, K, MEL, NY, PERTH.
Representative collections
W.A.: near Mt Desmond, c. 13 km due SE of Ravensthorpe, B.R.Maslin 3905 (AD, BRI, MO, NSW, PERTH); 5 km E of Ravensthorpe, P.G.Wilson 5536 (AD, MEL, NSW, PERTH).
(BRM)
The information presented here originally appeared on the WATTLE CD-ROM which was jointly published by the Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra, and the Department of Parks and Wildlife, Perth; it was produced by CSIRO Publishing from where it is available for purchase. The WATTLE custodians are thanked for allowing us to post this information here.
